But, him sneaking into a camp full of ALERT gods looking out for him and then offing them without alerting the others? Maybe he could pull off two or three before an alarm went off or the others reacted but by then, it would be the exact scenario he wanted to avoid.
More than a full cohort's worth of gods, both minor and major, assuming divine form in the middle of the demigod army.
...
Even if he slaughtered the rest as quickly as possible, that meant he'd have to draw on his own power beyond the base ability of his immortal body … and that would be worse. There was a reason he'd waited to get Ares in that underground fight club, hidden within the Earth and Rhea's presence, away from polite human society. He'd been sneaky, drawing the god's ire while Lamia drew power from him and saturated the club with it, only then to turn that power into a crude, elementally charged barrier trapping Ares.
The fact that Lamia also used some of that power to suddenly petrify and silently execute all the humans within had been an act of mercy in some ways. They'd already been dying, their bodies slowing down and cooling as they unknowingly succumbed to Cold and Darkness suffocating them. Mortals and even most immortals were never meant to endure his domains and what he could bring. Only those already connected to him in some form, whether by blessing, union, or blood, and even then, there were still risks.
And even he would struggle against a slew of immortals in divine form if he didn't draw on his own power to compensate but by then, there would be no point in holding back. If the demigods were around them, they'd easily be caught in the combat and mulched, or poisoned by the saturation of his power if his control slipped in the heat of the moment. That didn't even account for what effects of the gods in their divine forms could cause, namely Apollo and Zeus.
Simply put, their openings to strike first with minimal loses were just about spent.
He spent decades between training to hunt rogue titans that wouldn't be missed or too dangerous to risk escaping Tartarus, and gathered allies, all the while taking pot-shots and picking away at the crumbling unity of the Olympians. He took their rabid war-dog, and had it broken before putting it down right before their eyes, enraging them while striking the first deep blow to their morale. Taking Hestia and others, striking Artemis out of the sky where she thought she'd be safe and butchering her hunters; it was all to taunt and enrage them while sowing doubt into their armies.
Next had been revealing Mount Courtier up in the North, just close enough to bait them into gathering their forces into one spot and coming to them, drawing them away from the urban human cities around them. Then they'd taken Athena and truly revealed themselves for who and what they were but between ego, rage, and lacking accurate information of who else fought with Percy, the Olympians pushed onward. Without Athena as the stern voice of hard logic and cold reason commanding as Zeus' right hand, Zeus and Bellona were starting to get pulled thin handling a further agitated and discontent army.
Hera and Artemis were practically baying for blood and revenge while answering to few, Annabeth went somewhat of a turncoat helping split apart the demigods that didn't want to fight from the rest, and the other present Olympians weren't much help. For all their years and experience, Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus are not commanders and it was blatantly noticeable.
Apollo had always prioritized his sister over everything else, even his leadership of the demigods under his command or his role as chief medic during a time of war. Now with her death, the god was left with nothing but his anger and thirst for revenge: something they could exploit. Hermes is little better and while being more focused on his role and responsibility to the army, he wasn't a steely commander like Athena nor a front-line attacker/skirmisher like Artemis. Hephaestus went without saying, lacked any experience leading in combat, big or small.
Handling logistics and supply, especially weapons and maintenance, he could do to a T perfectly, but in the battlefield, he was always a follower. Add in his discomfort with dealing with people instead of his machines, and they could confidently say that he wouldn't help much with the army discipline if he was forced to step up.
'Some of the minor gods could step up too, but Zeus barely tolerated the likes of Athena and Bellona having so much authority to begin with,' he mentally added as he turned his eyes back on his ladies. 'Maybe we can use that but until there's an opening, separating the demigods might be the best option…'
"Rhea," he spoke up, drawing their eyes to him. "Do you think you could sneak a tunnel under them?"
Rhea blinked at him as she thought about it, humming lightly.
"I can, but if I pull too close to the surface, the gods will feel it and we'll lose any element of surprise," she answered.
"True but if we take it slow, we might be able to—"
Percy felt a pulse of power as he cut himself off, his head snapping towards the North in the gardens as Andy jumped out of her throne and she did the same. They both felt the panic and pain coming through a link, their eyes meeting as one thought passed through.
'Raven!'
Neither replied to Rhea and Hestia's questions of alarm, both Primordial taking off with a thunderous flap of their wings, flying through the large windows of the throne room. In moments they were above the gardens and already angling down towards where they felt their daughter, the echoes of her fear driving them faster.
They spotted her quickly, back pinned to one of the larger trees with Phoebe of all gods holding her by the shoulders, eyes glowing an ethereal green. At the moment Percy couldn't care less why the two were back here even to begin with, or why Phoebe was acting like that. All that mattered right now was that Raven was panicking and in pain.
And that pissed him off.
With a snarl on his lips, his landing was anything but gentle, kicking up a strong gust as stone and dirt gave way under his feet, before he closed the distance. He ripped Phoebe off Raven and tossed her almost clear across the garden, not even giving her time to land before he appeared over her and pinned her to the ground with a foot to the gut.
That got a cry of pain from the Primordial, and he could feel the barrier protecting the entire mountain placing pressure on him, the only warning that further action will be met with an equal response. It was just enough to keep him still, his eyes narrowed on the now panting goddess, her eyes back to their usual amber.
"I'm so sorry …" she said through coughs, her eyes getting a pleading look. "… It's the only way."
He ignored whatever else she had to say, his gaze shifting back to his daughter across the garden. Raven was trembling in Andromeda's arms, faintly whimpering in pain as her veins glowed white with power along the exposed skin of her arms. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on, but it only made Percy question Phoebe's actions that much more.
"Andromeda, go and take Raven to my office," he said, his voice ringing clear across the otherwise silent garden.
Andy looked back at him in worry, but only nodded as she picked up Raven and dashed off. As she left, he could feel Hestia and Rhea arriving with the signs of other gods teleporting in. He returned his attention to Phoebe as he slowly took off his foot, not looking at the arrivals. Most were clearly confused as they arrived, Thalia and Nico especially looking ready for a fight with their weapons drawn before they took notice of Percy and Phoebe.
"What happened?" Jason asked, getting a glance from Percy before the dark god answered, deciding to skip to the point.
"For some reason, Phoebe here decided to ascend Raven to full godhood," he said, his voice cold and clipped as he narrowed his eyes on Phoebe.
The goddess was sitting up now, rubbing at her sore stomach as she looked up shakily at him.
"Why?" Hestia asked, her presence starting to smolder as she glared at the other goddess.
"Because it needs to happen," Phoebe replied as she slowly got up, her own eyes hardening as she met the looks of her fellow primordial. "We need to cut off Pontus any way we can."
"… And Raven being pushed to full godhood does that, how?" Thalia asked this time, having relaxed her stance somewhat as she dismissed her blades.
"The Moon," Percy answered for Phoebe, his gaze shifting to the obscured celestial body.
...
if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :
p atreon/Moonhorse